September 20, 2010

Christine O'Donnell Wars: Wicca strike back

It had to happen. Now the Wiccans are upset with Christine O’Donnell, Delaware’s Republican nominee for Senate and, as Bill Maher might put it, Sarah Palin’s nicer clone.Maher unearthed a 1999 video from his old show "Politically Incorrect," in which she acknowledged that she had "dabbled into witchcraft," including a "midnight picnic" with a guy "on a Satanic alter," but "never joined a coven.”

After she said that, a lot of stuff hit the proverbial fan. O'Donnell abruptly went underground, following the same damage-control pattern as several other problematic Tea Party candidates. She canceled all weekend broadcast interviews, perhaps to spend a little time in candidate spin school.She did, however, make a speech to fellow Republicans at a GOP picnic in Delaware Sunday in which she made light of her witchy-womanly days.

"How many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school?" she joshed, but assured the crowd that, There's been no witchcraft since. If there was, Karl Rove would be a supporter now." Former GOP strategist Rove, now a Fox News analyst, famously called her a long-shot known for “nutty” comments, but he’s endorsing her anyway out of party loyalty. (He’d better – or Rush Limbaugh might sit on him.)Nevertheless, quicker than you can say “Double, double, toil and trouble” today I am seeing the headline “Wiccan Community Upset with O’Donnell” pop up on my computer screen.Surely, I thought, this must be a headline from The Onion. But, no, it is Sam Stein’s latest dispatch at Huffington Post. The Wicca community, it turns out, is a sensitive bunch and not pleased with Ms. O’Donnell’s trivialization of their religious movement as “questionable folks.”"Yes, this was 11 years ago she said that," Stein quotes Reverend Selena Fox, the High Priestess and Senior Minister of the non-profit Circle Sanctuary organization, which is dedicated to paganism and nature spirituality. "But the kinds of things she is saying now, saying 'well in high school you are with despicable characters' or some such thing, she is actually defaming Wiccans.”No word on whether Yeah. Let's have some tolerance, people.

Wiccans have enough headaches with Halloween coming around with all of its broomstick-riding stereotypes. It's

tough out here for a pagan.

Nevertheless, I hope no one casts a spell on me for saying that I am I’m still a little curious about young Christine’s date “with a witch” that, after a movie and a “midnight picnic” ended “on a Satanic alter and I didn’t know it,” as she says on the video above. “There was a little blood there,” she says.A little blood? Hmmm... Maybe she’s going to be hearing from PETA next. Or her local police department.

NEWS UPDATE: CHRISTINE'S A 'CRIMINAL?'

Now a campaign ethics watchdog group is calling O'Donnell "clearly a criminal" for using funds from her previous campaigns for personal use and failing to report the income for tax purposes. More reasons to avoid reporters.

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

How, exactly, is responding to yet another round of ignorant characterizations of the fastest growing religion in the country, "sensitive", Clarence? Pagans, in general, and Wiccans in particular regularly deal with startlingly ignorant and ill-informed pronouncements about their religion. Why would you even suggest that it is out of order for them to respond?

About this blog

I’m an op-ed columnist who has too much to say about too much stuff to contain in my two columns-a-week. My views? I’m a proud factory-town liberal who nevertheless will surprise you from time to time – because liberals just l-o-o-o-v-e to criticize other liberals. Join the chat. I can’t tell you what to think, but I’ll offer you things to think about. About Clarence Page